#NASA crew to make rare early return to Earth after medical issue in space.


NASA has not provided details about the nature of the problem, citing privacy concerns. The agency typically does not discuss the specifics of health matters related to astronauts.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule will bring the four-person crew home, disembarking from the ISS as soon as Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET. The spacecraft is then expected to splash down off the coast of California early the following morning, NASA said in a statement Friday evening.

The affected astronaut is in stable condition, NASA previously confirmed, and is not expected to receive special treatment during the return trip, said Dr. James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer at the agency’s headquarters. The astronaut would also be best served by being evaluated on the ground, Polk added.

“We have a very robust suite of medical hardware on board the International Space Station,” Polk noted during a Thursday news conference. “But we don’t have the complete amount of hardware that I would have in the emergency department, for example, to complete a workup of a patient.

“And in this particular incident,” he added, “we would like to complete that work up, and the best way to complete that workup is on the ground.”

The returning group, which includes American astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, makes up NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11. The mission, part of the orbiting laboratory’s regular staffing rotation, was expected to conclude no earlier than next month. Typically, NASA wouldn’t bring a team such as this back to Earth before another was in place.

NASA’s newly appointed administrator, Jared Isaacman — who has twice flown to orbit on private SpaceX missions — said he made the call to bring the group of four astronauts home.

Isaacman said during a news briefing Thursday that his decision was informed by the fact that four crew members are slated to launch to the space station on NASA’s Crew-12 mission in the coming weeks, and the agency is assessing ways to expedite that launch. The mission had been slated to take off around mid-February.

The Crew-11 team will depart the space station within “days,” Isaacman said.
Delayed spacewalk

NASA revealed the astronaut’s medical concern on Wednesday when it announced that the agency was opting to postpone a spacewalk, citing the undisclosed “medical concern.”

“These are the situations NASA and our partners train for and prepare to execute safely,” NASA noted in a statement.

When the Crew-11 astronauts return, it will leave only one NASA astronaut on board the football-field-size orbiting laboratory: Chris Williams, who arrived at the space station in late November on board a Russian Soyuz capsule as part of a ride-sharing agreement between the U.S. and Russia.

Officials on Thursday said Williams is well prepared to handle any tasks that come his way, and they are confident he will be joined shortly by the Crew-12 astronauts to return staffing to normal levels.

“This is one of the reasons why we fly mixed crews on Soyuz and U.S. vehicles — because we want to make sure we have operators for both (the U.S. and Russian) segments” of the space station, said Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator.

Dr. Farhan Asrar, a space medicine researcher and associate dean at the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Medicine, told CNN via email that health care providers face unique challenges attempting to treat or diagnose astronauts as they orbit more than 200 miles (320 kilometres) above Earth. The limitations can turn even common ailments — such as toothaches or ear pain — into difficult medical conundrums.

“Even though astronauts undergo frequent and ongoing health checks, the extreme environment of space does put a significant strain on health (stress on the heart, bone, eyes, kidneys, mood and other systems),” Asrar said.
A history of in-space medicine

NASA’s decision to withhold the affected astronaut’s name and details about their condition follows a long-established pattern. Information about the impact of spaceflight on the human body or other medical concerns that occur during missions are generally made public as part of broader scientific studies and research, and specific astronauts are not usually identified.

Conditions such as space adaptation syndrome — an ailment characterized by vomiting and vertigo that is experienced by many astronauts during their first hours in microgravity — only came into focus after years of research and revelations in academic journals. The condition is common, however, and has affected astronauts dating back to the beginning of spaceflight.

An incident in which an astronaut experienced a case of jugular venous thrombosis, a dangerous condition in which a blood clot can form in a person’s jugular vein, was also revealed in an academic journal. The identity of the astronaut impacted has never been made public.

Additionally, after SpaceX’s Crew-8 missions returned from the space station in October 2024, one of the four crew members experienced a “medical issue” and was flown to a hospital in Florida.

The space agency did not provide further details at the time, saying in a statement only that the crew member was “in stable condition” and “under observation as a precautionary measure.” The identity of the crew member is still unknown.

Over the past 25 years that the space station has operated, NASA has worked to respond to a “host” of medical issues, Polk noted during the Thursday briefing.

“Fortunately for us, we’ve had equipment and medications and things to be able to handle all of those such that we were able to complete the treatment and or the diagnosis on orbit,” Polk said.

#BREAKING: #NASA cuts space station mission short after an astronaut’s medical issue.

The crew of four returning home arrived at the orbiting lab via SpaceX in August for a stay of at least six months. The crew included NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke along with Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov.

Fincke and Cardman were supposed to carry out the spacewalk to make preparations for a future rollout of solar panels to provide additional power for the space station.

It was Fincke’s fourth visit to the space station and Yiu’s second time, according to NASA. This was the first spaceflight for Cardman and Platonov.

“I’m proud of the swift effort across the agency thus far to ensure the safety of our astronauts,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said.

Three other astronauts are currently living and working aboard the space station including NASA’s Chris Williams and Russia’s Sergei Mikaev and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, who launched in November aboard a Soyuz rocket for an eight-month stay. They’re due to return home in the summer.

NASA has tapped SpaceX to eventually bring the space station out of orbit by late 2030 or early 2031. Plans called for a safe reentry over ocean.

Adithi Ramakrishnan, The Associated Press

No more free rides: it’s time to pay for space safety :

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/12/ensuring-american-space-superiority/

WASHINGTON — Orbital launch activity set another annual record in 2025, although future growth may depend on factors different from those that fueled the recent surge.

There were 324 orbital launch attempts worldwide in 2025, according to a SpaceNews analysis of open-source data. The total excludes suborbital launches, such as five test flights of SpaceX’s Starship that did not reach orbit by design, as well as three launches of the HASTE variant of Rocket Lab’s Electron.

The total represents a 25% increase from the previous record of 259 orbital launch attempts in 2024, which itself marked a 17% increase from the 221 launches recorded in 2023.

Growth in global launch activity over the past several years has been driven primarily by SpaceX and Chinese launch providers. In 2020, when there were 107 orbital launch attempts worldwide, SpaceX conducted 26 Falcon 9 launches, while Chinese operators carried out 35 launches.

In 2025, SpaceX flew 165 Falcon 9 missions, more than the rest of the world combined. China conducted 92 orbital launches, spread across roughly two dozen vehicle families operated by state-owned enterprises and private startups.

Innospace plans second launch in 2026 after failure of first Hanbit-Nano rocket

Trump shifts priority to Moon mission, not Mars. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed that he wants to send astronauts back to the Moon as soon as possible, putting eventual Mars missions on the back burner.

In an executive order on his space policy, Trump said he wanted to get Americans to the Moon by 2028, under NASA’s Artemis program launched during his first White House term.

Such a lunar landing would “assert American leadership in space, lay the foundations for lunar economic development, prepare for the journey to Mars, and inspire the next generation of American explorers,” the order says.

It also says the U.S. space agency NASA hopes to set up “initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030” and confirms plans to deploy nuclear reactors “on the Moon and in orbit.”

Americans are currently scheduled to return to the Moon’s surface in mid-2027 on the Artemis 3 mission, but the timeline has been repeatedly pushed back.

And industry experts say it likely will be delayed again because the lunar lander in development at Elon Musk’s SpaceX is not yet ready.

Trump’s executive order puts increased pressure on both NASA and the private space sector to reach the administration’s objectives.

The United States is keen to bypass China, which also intends to send a crew to the Moon by 2030 and set up a base there.

Putting the priority on a lunar mission represents a policy shift from what Trump had said earlier this year.

When he returned to the White House in January, the Republican said he wanted to put the American flag on Mars before the end of his four-year term, without mentioning any such plans for the Moon.

That announcement has sown doubt on the administration’s priorities in space, and propelled fears that NASA was going to skip over the Moon altogether.

But now, even though Washington has long said it wants to be the first nation to send humans to Mars, that reality seems farther away.

The row in June between Trump and Musk, who is passionate about Mars exploration, along with other pressing geopolitical concerns, may have shifted Trump’s ambitions.

Lux Aeterna to land first reusable satellite in Australia

The agreement with Southern Launch also covers what would be the startup’s first reuse mission for its low Earth orbit Delphi spacecraft, slated for 2028.

“Lux Aeterna has undisclosed defense and commercial customers confirmed for its 2027 re-entry mission,” Lux founder and CEO Brian Taylor told SpaceNews.

“For the 2028 reuse mission, there is strong demand and several ongoing discussions.”

Lux is seeing demand for reusable satellite architecture across defense, intelligence and commercial markets. Targeted applications include short-duration technology demonstrations, hypersonic and materials testing, in-orbit servicing and in-space manufacturing missions.

The startup has already secured multiple U.S. government partnerships, including Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command and the Air Force Research Laboratory, as well as a Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Koonibba spans more than 41,000 square kilometers of sparsely populated land, which Lux said makes it well-suited for spacecraft recovery operations due to its low air traffic and regulatory flexibility.

The site has supported multiple orbital reentries, with microgravity research company Varda Space Industries returning capsules from its W-2 mission in February and its W-3 mission in May. Varda’s W-4 mission is currently in orbit and is scheduled to land at Koonibba before the end of the year, followed by a yet-to-be-launched W-5 mission.

In September, Varda signed an agreement with Southern Launch enabling up to 20 capsule reentries in South Australia through 2028.

Development milestones

Lux aims to complete critical design reviews for Delphi-1’s subsystems this year, ahead of parachute drop tests planned in the continental United States in 2026.

Unlike capsule-based reentry vehicles that treat thermal protection as an external shell, Delphi is built around a rigid heat shield that serves as the satellite’s primary structural bus.

Taylor said Delphi-1’s return to Earth “will be autonomous based on algorithms developed in-house,” using a heritage chemical propulsion system from an undisclosed supplier to guide reentry.

Lux Aeterna emerged from stealth in June with $4 million in pre-seed funding led by Space Capital, with participation from Dynamo Ventures, Mission One Capital, Alumni Ventures, Service Provider Capital and strategic angel investors.

Southern Launch operates the site in partnership with the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the local Aboriginal landholders.

#Arctic sees unprecedented heat as climate impacts cascade.

The Arctic has experienced its hottest year since records began, a U.S. science agency announced Tuesday, as climate change triggers cascading impacts from melting glaciers and sea ice to greening landscapes and disruptions to global weather.

Between October 2024 and September 2025, temperatures were 1.60 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 mean, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual Arctic Report Card, which draws on data going back to 1900.

Co-author Tom Ballinger of the University of Alaska told AFP it was “certainly alarming” to see such rapid warming over so short a timespan, calling the trend “seemingly unprecedented in recent times and maybe back thousands of years.”

The year included the Arctic’s warmest autumn, second-warmest winter, and third-warmest summer since 1900, the report said.

Driven by human-caused burning of fossil fuels, the Arctic is warming significantly far faster than the global average, with a number of reinforcing feedback loops -- a phenomenon known as “Arctic Amplification.”

For example, rising temperatures increase water vapor in the atmosphere, which acts like a blanket absorbing heat and preventing it from escaping into space.

At the same time, the loss of bright, reflective sea ice exposes darker ocean waters that absorb more heat from the Sun.
Sea-ice retreat

Springtime -- when Arctic sea ice reaches its annual maximum -- saw the smallest peak in the 47-year satellite record in March 2025.

That’s an “immediate issue for polar bears and for seals and for walrus, that they use the ice as a platform for transportation, for hunting, for birthing pups,” co-author Walt Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center told AFP.

Modeling suggests the Arctic could see its first summer with virtually no sea ice by 2040 or even sooner.

The loss of Arctic sea ice also disrupts ocean circulation by injecting freshwater into the North Atlantic through melting ice and increased rainfall.

This makes surface waters less dense and salty, hindering their ability to sink and drive the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation -- including the Gulf Stream -- which help keep Europe’s winters milder.

Ongoing melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet also adds freshwater to the North Atlantic Ocean, boosting plankton productivity but also creating mismatches between when food is available and when the species that depend on it are able to feed.

Greenland’s land-based ice loss is also a major contributor to global sea-level rise, exacerbating coastal erosion and storm-driven flooding.
More Arctic blasts

And as the Arctic warms faster than the rest of the planet, it weakens the temperature contrast that helps keep cold air bottled up near the pole, allowing outbreaks of frigid weather to spill more frequently into lower latitudes, according to some research.

The Arctic’s hydrological cycle is also intensifying. The October 2024 - September 2025 period -- also known as the 2024/25 “water year” -- saw record-high spring precipitation and ranked among the five wettest years for other seasons in records going back to 1950.

Warmer, wetter conditions are driving the “borealization,” or greening, of large swaths of Arctic tundra. In 2025, circumpolar mean maximum tundra greenness was the third highest in the 26-year modern satellite record, with the five highest values all occurring in the past six years.

Permafrost thaw, meanwhile, is triggering biogeochemical changes, such as the “rusting rivers” phenomenon caused by iron released from thawing soils.

This year’s report card used satellite observations to identify more than 200 discolored streams and rivers that appeared visibly orange, degrading water quality through increased acidity and metal concentrations and contributing to the loss of aquatic biodiversity.

By Issam Ahmed

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Space Force Association, a nonprofit advocacy group, announced plans to create a virtual education and analysis hub aimed at improving how U.S. leaders understand space as a military domain.

#WASHINGTON — A Rocket Lab Electron rocket successfully launched a technology demonstration satellite for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Dec. 13 as the company reshuffles its launch manifest.

The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 10:09 p.m. Eastern. The payload, JAXA’s Rapid Innovative Payload Demonstration Satellite-4, or RAISE-4, was deployed into a 540-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit nearly 55 minutes later.

The 110-kilogram RAISE-4 carries eight payloads to test advanced technologies, ranging from propulsion and communications to a drag sail designed to aid deorbiting. The satellite was originally slated to launch on Japan’s Epsilon-S rocket, but that vehicle has been grounded since a launch failure in 2022. Its return to flight has been delayed further by failures of upgraded solid rocket motors during ground tests.

Rocket Lab said in October it signed a contract with JAXA for two Electron launches: one for RAISE-4 and another for a set of eight cubesats that will also test advanced technologies. Those cubesats were originally planned to fly with RAISE-4 on a single Epsilon-S but will now launch on a separate Electron in early 2026.

“This dedicated mission delivered precision and reliability for one of the world’s most respected space agencies, and we couldn’t be prouder of supporting JAXA with the dedicated access to space needed to support the growth of Japan’s aerospace economy,” Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck said in a statement after the launch.